Gëzim Alpion is an Albanian academic and civil activist. He is currently based in the Department of Sociology at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Education and career

Alpion earned a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Cairo University Cairo University () is Egypt's premier public university. Its main campus is in Giza, immediately across the Nile from Cairo. It was founded on 21 December 1908;"Brief history and development of Cairo University." Cairo University Faculty of En ...

in 1989 and a PhD from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in 1997. In 2002, he was appointed to the Department of Sociology at the

, after previous lecturing at the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

and Newman University. In 2010, he joined Birmingham's Department of Political Science and International Studies and in 2016 the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology. Alpion's research area deals with the sociology of religion, nationalism, fame, race, media, film and authorship. He has written extensively about

Mother Teresa Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...

and is considered an expert on her life. Alpion's main publications to date include: '' Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?'' (2007), ''Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt'' (2002), and '' Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa'' (2011). Alpion is also a playwright; his plays ''Vouchers'' (2001) and '' If Only the Dead Could Listen'' (2008) address the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the West. Sponsored by

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

, the plays have been successfully performed across the UK.

Activism

Construction of the Arbëri Road

In March 2013, Alpion began an

online petition An online petition (or Internet petition, or e-petition) is a form of petition which is signed online, usually through a form on a website. Visitors to the online petition sign the petition by adding their details such as name and email address. T ...

for the Albanian government to complete the construction of the Arbëri Road, a highway linking Albania's capital

Tirana Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest ov ...

with his native Dibra, one of the most impoverished and neglected regions in Albania. The proposal would significantly lessen the travel time between the two areas as well as ensure Macedonia,

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

gain unprecedented access to the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

, contributing further to the EU integration of this area of the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. In May 2014, Alpion was received by the President of Albania, Bujar Nishani, the Speaker of Parliament,

Ilir Meta Ilir Rexhep Meta (; born 24 March 1969) is an Albanian former politician who served as President of Albania from 2017 to 2022. Previously Meta served as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2002 and he was Speaker of the Parliament of Albania from 2013 ...

, and the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure,

Edmond Haxhinasto Edmond Haxhinasto (born 16 November 1966) is an Albanian politician. He was Deputy Prime Minister of Albania from 2011 to 2013. Early life and education Edmond Haxhinasto was born in Tirana on 16 November 1966. Haxhinasto graduated from the U ...

, and hosted a roundtable discussion in Tirana with a number of Albanian MPs where they discussed the Arbëri Road. The petition was covered in Albanian and British media, but the road has since not been constructed yet.

Canonization of Mother Teresa

In 2014, Alpion led an online campaign for the canonization of

, with an online petition of over 1500 signatures. Mother Teresa was canonized in 2016.

Personal life

Alpion is married and has two children.

Books

* Alpion, G., '' Vouchers: A Tragedy'', Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham CPS, 2001. * Alpion, G., ''Foreigner Complex: Essays and Fiction about Egypt'', Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham CPS, 2002. * Alpion, G., '' Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?'' London and New York:

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, 2007 (simultaneously published in the UK, the US and Canada); Indian Edition (in English), New Delhi: Routledge India, 2008; Italian Edition (in Italian), Rome, 2008. * Alpion, G., '' If Only the Dead Could Listen'', Chapel Hill, NC, USA: Globic Press, 2008. * Alpion, G., '' Encounters with Civilizations: From Alexander the Great to Mother Teresa'', New Brunswick and London:

Transaction Publishers Transaction Publishers was a New Jersey–based publishing house that specialized in social science books and journals. It was located on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. Transaction was sold to Taylor & Francis in 2016 and merged w ...

, 2011. * Alpion, G., ''Mother Teresa: The Saint and Her Nation'' (reprint ed.), Bloomsbury, 2021.

References

External links

Arnot, Chris. 'Sinners and winners'. The Guardian, 1 November 2005.Lipsett, Anthea. 'Gëzim Alpion: Speaking for the refugee in us all'. Times Higher Education, 3 February 2006.Spink, Kathryn. 'Baffled by enigma of sancity'. The Tablet, 6 January 2007.

Derbyshire, Stuart. 'Mother Teresa and the ‘me, me, me’ culture'. Spiked Magazine, 14 February 2007.Neuhaus, Richard John. 'T. S. Eliot, Mother Teresa, and the Children of Darkness'. First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture and Public Life, New York, 23 February 2007.Liaugminas, Sheila. 'Trashing the icon of altruism'. MercatorNet, 27 February 2007.

Byrne, Lavinia. 'Famous by her own design'. Church Times, London, 3 April 2007.Schwartz, Stephen 'Review of Mother Teresa: Saint or Celebrity?'. Illyria, New York, 19 September 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpion, Gezim 20th-century Albanian philosophers 21st-century Albanian philosophers Albanian academics Living people University of Tirana alumni Cairo University alumni Academics of the University of Birmingham Albanian dramatists and playwrights People associated with York St John University People from Peshkopi Albanian expatriates in the United Kingdom Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Durham University Graduate Society Academics of Birmingham Newman University